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- MD: While protective sweep information made it into SW affidavit, there was PC without it
- N.D.Ga.: A Customs forensic search of a cell phone away from the border was still a border search
- CA6: State officer’s arrest for violation of federal MJ law likely wouldn’t violate 4A
- D.N.M.: Shared driveway outside of fence and gate was not curtilage
- CA6: Knowing passcode to cell phone shows common authority over it to consent
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com
Search and Seizure (6th ed. 2025)
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-26,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 600,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 50,000 posts since 2003 (29,000 on WordPress as of 12/31/25) -
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Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
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Section 1983 Blog -
"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me -
"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well."
–Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw), Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things (1868) (erroneously attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, among others) -
“I am still learning.”
—Domenico Giuntalodi (but misattributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (common phrase throughout 1500's)). -
"Love work; hate mastery over others; and avoid intimacy with the government."
—Shemaya, in the Thalmud -
"It is a pleasant world we live in, sir, a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr. Richard, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers."
—Charles Dickens, “The Old Curiosity Shop ... With a Frontispiece. From a Painting by Geo. Cattermole, Etc.” 255 (1848) -
"A system of law that not only makes certain conduct criminal, but also lays down rules for the conduct of the authorities, often becomes complex in its application to individual cases, and will from time to time produce imperfect results, especially if one's attention is confined to the particular case at bar. Some criminals do go free because of the necessity of keeping government and its servants in their place. That is one of the costs of having and enforcing a Bill of Rights. This country is built on the assumption that the cost is worth paying, and that in the long run we are all both freer and safer if the Constitution is strictly enforced."
—Williams v. Nix, 700 F. 2d 1164, 1173 (8th Cir. 1983) (Richard Sheppard Arnold, J.), rev'd Nix v. Williams, 467 US. 431 (1984). -
"The criminal goes free, if he must, but it is the law that sets him free. Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence."
—Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 659 (1961). -
"Any costs the exclusionary rule are costs imposed directly by the Fourth Amendment."
—Yale Kamisar, 86 Mich.L.Rev. 1, 36 n. 151 (1987). -
"There have been powerful hydraulic pressures throughout our history that bear heavily on the Court to water down constitutional guarantees and give the police the upper hand. That hydraulic pressure has probably never been greater than it is today."
— Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 39 (1968) (Douglas, J., dissenting). -
"The great end, for which men entered into society, was to secure their property."
—Entick v. Carrington, 19 How.St.Tr. 1029, 1066, 95 Eng. Rep. 807 (C.P. 1765) -
"It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people. And so, while we are concerned here with a shabby defrauder, we must deal with his case in the context of what are really the great themes expressed by the Fourth Amendment."
—United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 69 (1950) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting) -
"The course of true law pertaining to searches and seizures, as enunciated here, has not–to put it mildly–run smooth."
—Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 618 (1961) (Frankfurter, J., concurring). -
"A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable."
—Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 325 (1987) -
"For the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. ... But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected."
—Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351 (1967) -
“Experience should teach us to be most on guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded
rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
—United States v. Olmstead, 277 U.S. 438, 479 (1925) (Brandeis, J., dissenting)
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“Liberty—the freedom from unwarranted intrusion by government—is as easily lost through insistent nibbles by government officials who seek to do their jobs too well as by those whose purpose it is to oppress; the piranha can be as deadly as the shark.”
—United States v. $124,570, 873 F.2d 1240, 1246 (9th Cir. 1989) -
"You can't always get what you want / But if you try sometimes / You just might find / You get what you need."
—Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, Let it Bleed (album, 1969) -
"In Germany, they first came for the communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for
the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came
for me–and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."
—Martin Niemöller (1945) [he served seven years in a concentration camp] -
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper -
"The point of the Fourth Amendment, which often is not grasped by zealous officers, is not that it denies law enforcement the support of the usual inferences which reasonable men draw from evidence. Its protection consists in requiring that those inferences be drawn by a neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the officer engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime."
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948) -
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.
Website design by Wally Waller, Colorado Springs. 
Category Archives: Good faith exception
CA8: Some evidence of nexus saves SW under GFE
Under the good faith exception, executing officers are entitled to rely on the magistrate judge’s nexus finding with some actual basis they can reasonably rely on, even if it technically might have been wrong. United States v. Barnes, 2021 U.S. … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Govt’s failure to raise GFE before USMJ is waiver
Government waived the good faith exception by not raising it before the USMJ. United States v. Stearns, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 154919 (W.D.N.Y. Aug. 17, 2021). The trial court didn’t make sufficient findings on whether a handgun in plain view … Continue reading
CAAF: When PC for warrant was a close call, GFE applies
The question of probable cause for defendant’s UA was a close call. Therefore, the good faith exception applies. The officers essentially did everything right and that should be rewarded, and there’s no reason to reverse the finding of probable cause … Continue reading
CA7: GFE inquiry seems to include merits of PC, even when court doesn’t have to go there
The district court decided this case solely on the good faith exception and never reached probable cause. So does the court of appeals. The affidavit had a presumption of validity, which defendant recognizes, and it was not bare bones. The … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: Motion to suppress must allege basis to overcome GFE, too
Defendant’s motion to suppress must show a fact dispute to get a hearing, including on application of the good faith exception. United States v. Bailey, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 138557 (N.D.Okla. July 26, 2021):
CA6: DEA can get state SWs and assist in state investigations, then go federal
DEA officers can get search warrants in federal investigations from state judges for state law violations aiding state officers. That doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment or Rule 41. And, there is also the good faith exception. United States v. Williams, … Continue reading
CA8: SW for CP didn’t include “cell phone” in “electronic devices,” but GFE covers it
The search warrant here was for electronic devices that could hold child pornography, and it failed to specifically mention defendant’s cell phone. The good faith exception, however, overcame this omission of particularity. United States v. Pospisil, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
CA7: Officers complied with law in getting CSLI by exigency; Carpenter came two months after trial
Defendant was the subject of exigency based efforts to get his CSLI because he was actively being pursued as involved in a 2013 burglary investigation scoring 25 firearms. The CSLI request complied with the law at the time. Carpenter was … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Passing reference to a 4A violation in motion to suppress doesn’t preserve it
Passing reference to a Fourth Amendment violation isn’t enough to preserve the issue. United States v. Polaco-Hance, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132937 (D.P.R. July 16, 2021). There was probable cause for the search of defendant’s car under the warrant. A … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: 4A IAC claim fails for failing to show how outcome would change and because 4A wasn’t violated
“Movant argues that the warrantless search and seizure of the victim’s blood-stained clothing violated his Fourth Amendment rights and that his trial counsel’s failure to challenge the search and seizure was ineffective assistance because ‘there exists more than a reasonable … Continue reading
CA8: Cell tower warrant to ID robbers was reasonable and with PC
Cell phone tower warrant in an effort to solve multiple robberies by identifying repeated phone use was reasonable when the question is a “substantial basis,” which there was. United States v. James, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 20336 (8th Cir. July … Continue reading
CA11: Including omitted information under Franks still left PC
The omission here was not a Franks violation. “Here, even if Jackson’s statement had been included in the affidavit, it would not have tipped the balance. The officers still would have had probable cause to search the home, because the … Continue reading
CA6: CI’s PC doesn’t have to be decided because there was good faith
The district court erred in finding no probable cause on information from defendant’s CI and no good faith exception. The CI was stopped one day out of jail driving a stolen motorbike that he said came from defendant. “In the … Continue reading
RI: One-sentence description of alleged CP didn’t show PC
The twelve word one-sentence description of defendant’s alleged child pornography was insufficient to show probable cause. The court declines the state’s invitation to adopt the good faith exception without adequate briefing. State v. Reisner, 2021 R.I. LEXIS 87 (June 30, … Continue reading
CA3: GFE saved CP search district court found lacked PC
Officers obtained a search warrant for defendant possessing child pornography based on his interest in unclothed children and taking pictures. The district court suppressed, but the good faith exception applies to save the search. The government appealed on both probable … Continue reading
WI: Warrantless blood draw from incapacitated driver unconstitutional
Wisconsin’s statute allegedly permitting blood draws of incapacitated drivers is unconstitutional for lack of actual consent, but the good faith exception saves it today. State v. Prado, 2021 WI 64, 2021 Wisc. LEXIS 98 (June 18, 2021):
D.Conn.: Unreasonable delay in getting SW for cell phone defeats GFE
Where the officers impermissibly delayed obtaining a search warrant for defendant’s cell phone, the good faith exception does not apply. The initial seizure of the phone was valid because it was left at a crime scene. United States v. Tisdol, … Continue reading
CA3: Ghostwritten SW affidavit not a Franks violation because there was indisputably PC
A police officer’s admission at trial that the affidavit for search warrant was ghostwritten for him didn’t show a Franks violation because there clearly was probable cause. United States v. Ware, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 16568 (3d Cir. June 3, … Continue reading
CA3: SW including “any and all cell phones” could be overbroad, but not here where there were only two
“Taylor contends that the description of ‘any and all cellular telephones’ contained in this warrant is overly broad and thus lacks the requisite particularity. Although a warrant allowing seizure of ‘any and all cellular telephones’ may be overbroad, this record … Continue reading